Inside the fight to save millions of souls
Mbongeni Mguni | Friday July 29, 2016 15:29
As has oddly become the norm in his political career, President Ian Khama this week again found himself facing yet another ‘first’ unique to his tenure. In 2010, Khama became the country’s first to battle two commodity price-led recessions in his tenure and last year became the first to encounter a drought as deep as the 2015-2016 disaster.
This week, in front of an audience of donor agencies and diplomats, he became the first SADC chair since July 2002 to issue a global appeal for humanitarian aid. His appeal is also the most staggering in terms of numbers: P26billion required for 40 million people living on the edge of starvation, with 18 million of them requiring immediate assistance.
The numbers
The El Niño climatic event, which caused the driest cropping season in 35 years in Southern Africa last year, also triggered floods, which devastated agricultural output in the northern parts of the region.
Following on from a similarly disastrous 2014 cropping season, El Niño’s effects have left the region needing 1.67 million tonnes of maize over the next few months, while nearly 2.7 million children are suffering from severe acute malnutrition.
More than 643,000 livestock have died in five countries alone, including Botswana, while prices of staples are drifting out of the reach of most citizens due to market pressures and the absence of support for the hardest hit.
The drought has compromised food quality and supply, worsening the HIV/AIDS pandemic, while exposing many others to health and sanitation risks associated with poor water quality or insufficient supply.
Economies in the region, already battling poor commodity prices, have been unable to sufficiently respond to the crisis and will only be able to self-finance $174 million of the $2.7 billion required to pull the region through to the next harvest.
Donors are being asked to provide $2.4 billion of which $1.4 billion will be directed to food security and agriculture initiatives. Zimbabwe has the greatest funding gap requiring $1.04 billion for more than four million citizens affected.
Ironically, while Khama is leading the fundraising, Botswana is the only country that does not need international assistance under the humanitarian appeal. The country will self-finance the $2.3 (P24.5 million) required to feed the 57,411 people identified as being in need.
Robust response
On Tuesday, shortly after Khama officially issued the appeal, several donor states stood up to announce their ongoing assistance programmes and initial responses specific to the humanitarian appeal. In that morning, at least $501 million was pledged to the appeal, with the US taking the lead, with an amount of $300 million.
On Wednesday in a teleconference from Washington, USAID Assistant Administrator for Democracy, Conflict, and Humanitarian Assistance, David Harden told Mmegi the US was taking the vanguard in the SADC appeal.
Harden, who spent time in Botswana in the early 1980s as a member of the Peace Corps, is passionate about helping the region climb its steepest challenge.
The challenge hits home for him but he sees positives in the situation, particularly for Botswana.
“Southern Africa means everything to me. It really launched my life.
I was a Peace Corps in Botswana more than 30 years ago and when we look at the drought today, it’s the worst in all those years and more.
“This situation allows us to take a snapshot of the progress that has been made since the early 1980s.
“In those years in Botswana, the difference between where we were then and where we are now is light years apart.
“That does not mean that real people are not suffering because they are. It, however, means we have the technology, capability and reach to allow us to minimise risks and save lives.
“Botswana and South Africa have made the greatest progress and are more resilient and capable of standing on their own. For me that’s a remarkable outcome.
“The US, I think, is taking the lead (in the appeal) and we have a role of building commitment and getting others to join us.”
Besides the US, the European Union (EU)and United Kingdom (UK) have also announced initial responses running into millions of US dollars.
On Wednesday in Pretoria, the United Nation’s Office for Coordinating Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) announced a parallel $1.2 billion appeal to humanitarian agencies, which will complement SADC’s own appeal. Already, a quarter of the required funds have been received or pledged, the UN said.
Will the appeal succeed?
The amount required is staggering and unprecedented. There are also competing demands for donor funds, particularly as the global refugee crisis shows no signs of abating and as El Niño wrecks other parts of the world.
The last time SADC launched a global appeal for humanitarian assistance, Malawian president, Bakili Muluzi was SADC chair and he led the quest for $611 million in aid, after El Niño decimated the 2001-2002 farming season.
Even for that amount, Muluzi had mixed success 14 years ago, with response largely slow and marked by non-committal from targeted donors. The US topped the donor list that time, followed by the UK, Japan, Germany, Netherlands and Sweden.
For Timo Pakkala, UN OCHA’s El Niño coordinator for Southern Africa, the challenge is creating greater awareness of the need in the region, to stimulate donor action.
“It’s a lot of money we need and the challenge is great,” he told Mmegi in an interview on the sidelines of the SADC appeal launch.
“However, there are good indications that the key donors are responding. I’m cautiously optimistic and we can only hope that support will come forward to mobilise resources. “It’s important to raise awareness for this because there are many huge crises in the world and competing demand.
We have to raise awareness and put the crisis on the agenda.” Eric Molale, the chairperson of the SADC ministers responsible for disaster management is equally “cautiously optimistic”.
“Mokopi ga a dibedi, mokopi o marago a thata (Beggars are not choosers),” Molale said, responding to a Mmegi enquiry.
“If you are asking those that you live with in this global village to help you, you will on their goodwill to respond.
“Personally, I’m optimistic because during the 1980s, a similar appeal was launched and the response was good.
“If what the three partners did here is anything to go by, I believe we will get a good response.”
Molale is also hoping philanthropic partners to the region, such as Bill and Melinda Gates, will open their hearts to the appeal.
“Even if it is not particularly to the drought, whatever they put in will go towards helping. The world has shown that whenever SADC calls for help, whether for HIV or whatever else, they respond and I do believe that this time around the world will respond.”
Khama magic
Rightly or wrongly, analysts believe a great deal of the success of SADC’s appeal will rest on Khama’s charm, appeal and relationships with major donor agencies.
Khama and Botswana enjoy a cordial relationship with the traditional large donors, particularly the US and its various agencies, as well as Britain and the EU.
An EU diplomat during the launch of SADC appeal was even more succinct.
“The immediate past SADC chair was Robert Mugabe and Khama’s successor on August 15 will be King Mswati III.
“Mugabe and Mswati have very prickly relations with major donor states, particularly the US and the EU states. “Mugabe actually blasted donor assistance to an extent during speeches when he took over as chair and when he left.
“It is thus very fortunate for SADC that this appeal is launched by Khama who enjoys close relationships with many of these countries and Botswana, also as the seat of SADC, is also viewed greatly by many of these agencies.”
Going forward, SADC is tightening its logistics protocols and infrastructure to ensure assistance is speedily processed through to intended beneficiaries.
All hands are on deck and initial indications are that the region will pull through thanks to the Khama magic.